An advertisement calling out open net-pen salmon farms made the rounds on social media last week and has received some heat from Indigenous groups in BC.
The ad, created by Pacific Wild, depicts actor William Shatner using profanity in a call to end open-net fish farms and it was produced by Ryan Reynold’s company Maximum Effort.
Now the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS) is demanding an apology from Shatner and Reynolds saying that it’s “a classic example of rich, elite, removed, urban white men overriding the wishes of vulnerable Indigenous communities.”
According to FNFFS the salmon farming sector employs 700 indigenous workers and brings in $133 million a year to First Nations.
“Our remote communities do not have a lot of options to turn to economically,” reads the statement released by the FNFFS.
The FNFFS goes on to blame Shatner’s generation for causing “irreversible harm and damage” to wild salmon stocks.
This comes as the Federal Government announced last week that net-pen salmon farms have 5 years to change completely over to closed-containment systems.
